photo by John Cavanaugh - used with permission April 19, 2026 ...and American Music Past, and American Music Present. And its acronym is BSCAM . What a great night! Stay tuned for my full take (accompanied by plenty more photos, too.)

April 17, 2026 The latest issue of New Jersey Monthly features extensive coverage tied to this spring's opening of The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University 's new building, including a cover-story interview with Springsteen himself . In the interview with Jennifer Finn, Bruce shares his vision of what he's hoped the Center could become: "...something that was dedicated more to the overall story of American music... someplace that was an educatio

April 14, 2026 Today The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University announced a multi-act, two-night concert event celebrating America’s 250th birthday. Called Music America: The Songs that Shaped Us, the concerts will take place on June 4 and 5 at the OceanFirst Bank Center on the Monmouth campus, just prior to the grand opening of the new Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music building on June 7.  This will be a major contribution to the nation

April 14, 2026 While Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour has taken off and continues rolling through fields where sunlight streams, our friend and occasional contributing photographer Gert Dewaelheyns, aka "BrucePix," has reached out to us with some additional good news. Gert is generously offering to all Letters To You readers a special free-shipping discount opportunity (by using the exclusive coupon code LETTERS2U ) on remaining cop

Minneapolis, MN, March 31, 2026 - photo by Kevin Mazur - used with permission April 13, 2026 Okay, so maybe the "incredible" (as per Bruce Springsteen on 3/31/26) singing voice of Mighty Max Weinberg - who turns 75 today - isn't as widely recognized as his percussive skills. Indeed, it is rare for Max to be given the greenlight to belt out a few choice notes at a Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band show, the most recent incident being just two weeks ago during "Hungry Hear

Chef Andre Fowles and Bruce Springsteen with copies of Fowles' recently published book My Jamaican Table: Vibrant Recipes from a Sun-Drenched Island , to which Springsteen wrote the foreword - photo via Patti Scialfa Springsteen's official Instagram page April 10, 2026 Andre Fowles' current gig as the personal chef for Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa Springsteen is just the latest in his very impressive list of culinary achievements. Fowles also is a three-time championsh

April 7, 2026 I'll admit that I was unsure about their successfully pulling off here in the U.S. a version of what they did last year in Europe, but I also learned a long time ago just how much and how often Bruce Springsteen and his various collaborators can still surprise you through the years. Indeed, just two gigs in (with the third happening tonight in Inglewood, CA, as this essay is being published,) it's already very clear that Springsteen and the E Street Band have su

photo by Phil Ceccola - used with permission April 3, 2026 Musician, songwriter, poet, and author Tzruya/Zeruya “Suki” Lahav died this past Wednesday. She was 74. photo by Phil Ceccola - used with permission Among her many accomplishments, Lahav was the first woman ever to record and perform with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. Her uncredited and multitracked backing vocals can be heard on both "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" and "Incident on 57th Street" from The

photo by Shawn Poole April 1, 2026 Just in case you might not have heard already, last night The Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour launched in Minneapolis, MN's Target Center. To paraphrase Bruce Springsteen, this tour is happening NOW . No foolin', no joke. Springsteen and the E Street Band, along with their full-tour special guest Tom Morello, are as serious as a heart attack in their mission to "call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in dangerou

March 31, 2026 Once more, the people have spoken. Due to continued interest and demand, as well as Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's special 2026 tour celebrating and defending freedom during the U.S.A.'s semiquincentennial year, we are offering another opportunity to purchase our exclusive Frank Caruso "Spirit of '76" nonprofit-fundraising t-shirt . We remain pleased and honored that artist  Frank Caruso , who collaborated with Bruce Springsteen on his Outlaw Pete  qua

March 30, 2026 UPDATE (afternoon of March 30, 2026:) The livestream will be free on YouTube, as well as for subscribers in the nugs app, but only the first two songs of the concert will be streamed live. Watch live, beginning tomorrow at approximately 8:30pm ET, on youtube.com/@brucespringsteen or youtube.com/@nugsnet . Livestreaming audio and VIDEO alert... As of this writing, the Nugs.net phone app has Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's March 31, 2026 concert in Min

March 29, 2026 You can click below to watch the embedded and cued-up pro-shot footage of Bruce Springsteen performing "Streets of Minneapolis" at yesterday's Minnesota No Kings rally in the state's capital city of Saint Paul. After being introduced to the stage by Minnesota's governor Tim Walz, Springsteen introduced his song with essentially the same remarks he used to introduce the song at last Monday's Democracy Now! @30 event . And again he sang the slightly altered line

March 26, 2026 Bruce Springsteen has been busy preparing, performing, and lending public political support in this final full week before he launches his Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour   with the E Street Band in Minneapolis next Tuesday. And he's not quite finished with the week just yet... On Monday night, following several days of tour rehearsals in Ocean Grove, NJ with the E Street Band (but without the tour's special guest Tom Morello, who's been playing some final

March 12, 2026 This week Bruce Springsteen has released a beautiful studio version of the late, great Shane MacGowan's song "A Rainy Night in Soho," originally recorded and released by MacGowan's band The Pogues back in 1986. Springsteen first performed live versions of "A Rainy Night in Soho" during his 2024 concerts with the E Street Band in Ireland. The song was performed in tribute to MacGowan, who died in late 2023. Bruce's new studio version of "A Rainy Night in Soho" i

photo by Danny Clinch - used with permission March 10, 2026 Happy Women's History Month ! Tomorrow our friends Lorraine Mangione and Donna Luff , co-authors of the book Mary Climbs In: The Journeys of Bruce Springsteen's Women Fans , will present an online authors' talk about their research, focusing on the perspectives of Springsteen’s women fans from New Jersey, as well as perceptions of New Jersey and its place in Springsteen’s music among female fans from other states and

March 9, 2026 By this time next month, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour is expected to be in full swing, with three shows under its belt already. Therefore, last Friday's archival Nugs live-recording release is probably the last "First Friday" release we'll see in the series for at least a couple of months. It's fitting, then, that just as was the case with the last monthly release in the series before last year's European version o

photo by Stewart Cook - used with permission March 5, 2026 Tomorrow at least three living U.S. presidents, along with many other leaders, politicians, and dignitaries from around the world, will be in Chicago at the final public memorial service for veteran Civil Rights Movement-based leader, activist, and international negotiator Jesse Jackson, before his private funeral and burial services on Saturday. David Masciotra , the author of Working on a Dream: The Progressive Pol

photo by Rob DeMartin (Gelsenkirchen, Germany - June 27, 2025) - used w/ permission February 27, 2026 Happy 46th birthday to the one and only Jake Clemons . While we usually see and hear much of Jake playing his late uncle's saxophone whenever he performs in the E Street Band, the photo above - from last spring/summer's Land of Hope & Dreams European tour - reminds us that the sax isn't the only instrument he's been known to play at Springsteen/ESB shows. And of course in Ja

photo by Pam Springsteen February 25, 2026 Let the altered-setlist speculation begin... Yesterday it was announced officially on Bruce Springsteen's social media that Tom Morello "will be performing on stage with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band on selected songs for every date of the Land Of Hope & Dreams American Tour. "Grammy-winning, Harvard-educated, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted artist, songwriter, and activist Tom Morello is living proof of the transformat

February 17, 2026 Yes, Virginia, today the rumors have been confirmed officially. As per Bruce Springsteen's official announcement : Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band will launch their Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour across the country this spring, kicking off at Minneapolis’ Target Center on March 31. The 20-date run will feature 19 arena shows, and a final night outdoors on May 27 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. [Via a video-message posted on his social media

February 14, 2026 This week's announcement of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music's 2026 American Music Honorees marks some new directions for the annual ceremony, raising some questions - and at least a few eyebrows - in the process. All honorees will be recognized at the Center's fourth annual American Music Honors event, taking place once again in Pollak Theatre, on the campus of Monmouth University, on Saturday, April 18. In alphabetical order, and as per the

photo by Carl Schultz - used with permission February 7, 2026 For a limited time, you can click here to download free of charge "No Kings, No Hate, No Fear," written by Nils and Amy Lofgren. "I'm so glad it came out as it did... I hope it means something to people, and gives them something to focus on... something simple to chant while they're marching... or at least listen to and be inspired." - Nils Lofgren, appearing on Mary Trump Media for the live premiere of "No Kings,

February 7, 2026 After skipping January 2026 for reasons that were neither announced nor explained, the nugs.net "First Friday" Live Archives series returned yesterday with another great show from the 1995-1997 solo-acoustic tour supporting The Ghost of Tom Joad . It's Capitol Theatre, Sydney, AUS, 2/12/1997 . This was the only show on that tour, or on any other Springsteen tour, in which Bruce performed both his own song "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and Woody Guthrie's song "Tom

February 4, 2026 For David Sancious , being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a former E Street Band keyboardist has been just a part - albeit a very significant part - of his highly respected, varied, and groundbreaking musical career that has spanned more than fifty years now. Collaboration has been a key throughline in Sancious' work as a multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, producer/arranger, and highly recognized and respected jazz-fusion pioneer, whose post-E

February 1, 2026 Eleven days before the release of "Streets of Minneapolis," Bruce Springsteen stood onstage during his first public appearance of the new year, at Light of Day 's Winterfest 2026. He already had played a song with Willie Nile and his band earlier in the evening, and was now in the midst of playing a fourteen-songs set with his longtime friend/collaborator Joe Grushecky and his great band the Houserockers. Before performing the next song, however, Springsteen

January 29, 2026 Directed by Thom Zimny Edited by Thom Zimny and Samuel Shapiro Production Footage: Pam Springsteen and Thom Zimny

January 28, 2026 "I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday, and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors. and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free, Bruce Springsteen" [UPDATE] - Here are the official recording credits for "Streets of Minneapolis:" Produced by: Bruce Springsteen with Ron Aniello Executive Produced by:

January 23, 2026 Today marks what would've been the 76th birthday of E Street Band keyboardist and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer "Phantom" Dan Federici , taken from us far too young in 2008, due to melanoma complications. ( Click here to support The Danny Fund, in association with Melanoma Research Alliance. ) Bruce Springsteen has called Federici "the most instinctive and natural musician I ever met," a great "ear player" who made indelible contributions to so many recordings

Vini drums while Toney Hall strums, in their Florida-based group The Hula Hula Boys, via Vini's Facebook page January 22, 2026 Happy birthday, and best wishes for many more happy birthdays ahead, to E Street Band alumnus and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez , who's turned 77 today. Back in the day, Vini earned that "Mad Dog" nickname the hard way. But these days, Vini's a much more mellow fellow, still making music - now via The Hula Hula Boys duo with Toney Hal

photo by Mark Krajnak for Letters To You January 21, 2026 With all the current distractions of life in New Jersey, USA circa 2026 - from inclement weather, to omnipresent electronic-device-addiction, to the dramatic and at times horrifying events transpiring around the country – it seemed like it was going to be pretty hard to focus in on what was going on onstage at the various venues of Light of Day WinterFest 2026, "the Main Event" of which, "Bob [Benjamin]'s Birthday Ba